Man, this hits close to home... some friends of mine did their honeymoon in Dubai (partly) a few years ago. I was a best man at their wedding but I messed up the witnessing process (long story...) and they only found out they were not yet technically / legally married until they came back from their honeymoon and had to sort out some paperwork. I jokingly told them that thanks to me there was probably a fatwah against them in Dubai right now, but perhaps it was no joke...

It certainly is a violation of very basic human rights, but also a bit of a high horse. It is not like sodomy laws didn´t exists in western countries until very recently, and we have hundreds of years of humanism behind us, not a century from desert dwelling barbarians to modern society.

Building skyscrapers (thanks to western mercenaries and enslavement of other muslims) or driving ferraris instead of camels does not constitute a modern society. The mentality has - quite obviously - not changed much.

As a Muslim I find this totally abhorrent and unbecoming of an Islamic country. Granted premarital sex is forbidden in Islam but these people aren't Muslims. They should not be subject to the same laws as Muslims. I feel the same way with Saudi Arabia's ban of practicing other religion for foreigners.

It shames me to see Arabs being the poster child for the Muslim faith because they have not been living to the true teachings of Islam for a while now.

Because they are a few decades behind, mind you it is not so long ago that you yourself lived in a dictatorship if you are old enough, in a multiple century progress?

There is no question if the human rights situation is disgusting down there, it is just hilariously arrogant to pretend that we are lightyears ahead, when it more often than not is just less than one Generation.

That would mean going to the UAE and imposing your own views and ways on them.

Because that's exactly what the Romans did for a large chunk of their history, going around invading and imposing their ways on other people.

In fact, there's so many westerners living in the UAE, I'm surprised no one has taken a leaf out of your idols book and annexed it like he did Crimea.

Sure, the Romans liked to impose their ways over others because they could. But at the same time they didn't tolerate disrespect from foreigners towards their rules and laws, which is exactly what Dubai is doing.

I do agree though that somebody should go and annex Dubai. Colonialism was pretty cool, apart from slave trade and unnecessary violence towards populations of colonized areas.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - Martin Luther King Jr

When the US (and the West overall) accept gay marriage as the law of the land without invoking "religious freedom objections", when (as an atheist) I'm not shamed/criticized for saying happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas, when my morals are no longer judged to be inferior because I choose to enjoy my Sunday instead of being inside a building listening to someone on how to live my life, when Christians stop cherrypicking the Bible to justify their behavior (for better or worse)...that's the day I will definitely agree with the statement of saying that Muslim countries are backward.

I personally see no difference except that Christian countries are more civilized. But remember: it wasn't too long ago that we had laws telling which races could marry which races, so the idea of having a law that bans premarital sex isn't so crazy (especially for the religious folks...you know...because the Bible is everything to them...except the parts they like to ignore).

None so blind as those who will not see.

Wrong on several levels. First of all, less than 20% of Americans regularly attend church. That means more than 80% are like you and do not. And while almost a tie, more Americans think stores should actually use Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas (47% vs. 46%) , which is probably why you admit you have never been shamed for saying Happy Holidays. Even if you had, I personally would rather have someone judge me for how I greet them in December than be arrested for getting my fiance pregnant, but that's just me. I am sure the most evolved PC groupthink liberal mindset though could argue how it is 1000 times worse though so go for it.

1. Christmas lost its meaning LONG ago. It's been commercialized to such an extent that to me, Christmas Day itself just feels like a regular day. The joy I'd feel on that day while growing up is no longer there. And the days leading up to it are not "magical" anymore. I'm not religious so I couldn't care less about "putting Christ back in Christmas", but there was always something about the season that made it worth experiencing. Now it's just commercials and sales.

That's nonsense. Christmas is and has always been a private/family affair and it's only up to you what YOUR christmas will be like.

What do UAE/Dubai laws state regarding non-married couples having sex outside the country, say on a holiday to Europe? Wouldn't it be pretty easy to just claim that you were abroad when it happened?

I think you'll still run into trouble. Especially if you're living in Dubai. Most people get caught either the way it happened here by getting pregnant and being ratted out by the doctor, or if some nosy prick thinks two people are not married and decide to make noise about it. Though the second instance is not exclusive to premarital sex. I almost never even kiss my girlfriend in public places in case someone sees and decides to complain. The area I live in is fairly up market and is mostly full of western expats or upper class locals who are generally more open minded but all it takes is one complaint to get you into hot water.

Don't get me wrong, compared to the rest of the ME, Dubai is not bad. But occasionally things like this do happen and everybody gets a cold reminder that these kind of laws still do exist.

Let's not forget, this is the same country which hosts, at any given time, upwards of 25.000 'ladies of the night', whilst also being the un-official gay capitol of the Middle East. Just to clarify, I'm not cool about the former but couldn't care less about the latter.

When it comes to having sex, straight or gay, nobody does hypocrisy better than the UAE.

From receips and radials over straight pipes to big fans - been there, done that, got the hearing defects to prove

lol, ooops! My girlfriend and I were in Dubai last year while she was visibly pregnant and we had sex a few times down there too..

Tourist and resident is the answer. As a resident you're in trouble when your girlfriend is pregnant. Jail time, job gone and deportation is the worst case.

Yet that would only increase the hypocrisy of UAE.

The only reason why this will not result in a row is that a South African and Ukrainian are involved. I wonder if a Western-European or American would have been involved they would detain them as well (as it would create a lot of bad pubiicity in those countries).

Laws and rules, and the oath of Hippocrates exist to prohibit revealing information about patients..unless instructed by a judge or police for example. I don't know if things are different in the wonderland of Dubai.

lol, ooops! My girlfriend and I were in Dubai last year while she was visibly pregnant and we had sex a few times down there too..

Tourist and resident is the answer. As a resident you're in trouble when your girlfriend is pregnant. Jail time, job gone and deportation is the worst case.

Yet that would only increase the hypocrisy of UAE.

The only reason why this will not result in a row is that a South African and Ukrainian are involved. I wonder if a Western-European or American would have been involved they would detain them as well (as it would create a lot of bad pubiicity in those countries).

Happend also to "western european" nationals in the UAE. There are a lot of cases with bad press, but shiny luxury Dubai attracts still a lot of people.

Laws and rules, and the oath of Hippocrates exist to prohibit revealing information about patients..unless instructed by a judge or police for example. I don't know if things are different in the wonderland of Dubai.

Thins a running very different "in the wonderland of Dubai". That's why I said choose your doc wisely and have a look at his nationality. Live is much easier in such cases when you have a doc from Europe.

Laws and rules, and the oath of Hippocrates exist to prohibit revealing information about patients..unless instructed by a judge or police for example. I don't know if things are different in the wonderland of Dubai.

You realise most doctors in western cultures don't swear the hippocratic oath, right?

The US and France are notable exceptions, but doctors in the UK definitely do not swear the hippocratic oath...

And if the law in Dubai requires notification in these cases, then there's your "laws and rules" which you speak of - in the UK, doctors are required to notify the authorities in certain circumstances, even against the wishes of the patient, and even if notification harms the patient.

The US and France are notable exceptions, but doctors in the UK definitely do not swear the hippocratic oath...

In Germany it is optional. Interessting that the US has it, considering that the legal and educational framework basically doesn't allow US doctors to keep it. After all they would be required to teach other wannebe doctors for free, and they have to call the cops, even when it is bad for everyone involved.